Goats Anyone?

[Cindy Henson]

We raise dairy goats and have a home dairy. We are able to meet all our dairy needs this way, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, kefir (my favorite) yogurt, pudding......Is anyone else a goat herder?

[Janet Jinkner]

I have goats. Currently I only have two milk does (and one of them not due to freshen until next month), but I also have two nice little doelings. My biggest doe (180# saanen) is due to kid next month, and she is big as a house right now. She has had triplets before, and I am kinda expecting triplets from her again. I've always gotten nice kids from her, and lots of does. I have my own buck, and I'm up to 3 wethers. Two of those wethers will be for sale. Oh. I forgot. I had just traded in a small bunch of mini-goats and got two angora goats. I expect to have LOTS of fun with them.

Yes, we have all the milk we need and we make our own cheese. I sell a little bit of milk, and I'm making goat milk soap. It sems like LOTS of people want goat milk soap. I've had lots of requests for it. I just cut a new batch of soap this morning, and oh, is it pretty.

[Cindy Henson]

Cool! I have never made goat's milk soap. Is it difficult? Do you have a "recipe" you would share?

I have thought of adding some Angoras. I like to learn to spin and weave.

I have a herd of about 20. I am currently milking only one. I have two bucks (Nubians). One I just bought from Arkansas to add some new genetics to the herd. I have 8 Nubian does and 4 Toggenburgs which are for sale. We are positioning ourselves to sell milk, but first we have to finish our log cabin. We have been working on it for 5 years. That is a whole other story!

The brush clearing crew is my 4 wethers and I have one wether that is the baby sitter. I had triplets this year, one doeling and two bucklings.Their little mama is a 120 pound Nubian. She has thrown triplets twice! The bucklings, who are just weaned (at great protest), are for sale. They are just to pretty to turn into wethers.

That Saanen is a big girl! I have a few Nubians that are that big. How big are your bucks? My current buck, who came from Arizona is pretty big compared to the bucks I have been seeing around here. I have been trying to meet some goat people.

Where do you live?

[Janet Jinkner]

First off, let me say that I am NOT an expert at soap making. I've only been doing it for a couple months. There are many resources much better than me. I have been learning a lot from a couple of yahoo groups: soapmaking101 and soap_makers.

My soap recipe is fairly simple. It makes 5 pounds of soap, which is really only 20 bars. Remember, all measurements are in weight. Working with lye is hazardous. Wear gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, eye protection, etc., etc., etc... ALWAYS add the lye to the liquid (even if the liquid is frozen solid). NEVER add the liquid to lye. Oh, and one more thing. I'm giving you my recipe, but make it a habit, starting now, to ALWAYS check any new recipe with a lye calculator. There are plenty of them online. I usually use the one at http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

20 oz coconut oil
32 oz olive oil
12 oz soybean oil

12 oz goat milk
9 oz lye

If you make goat milk soap, freeze the milk before you add the lye to it, ideally in an ice cube tray. If you don't freeze the milk, then the milk will scorch and turn a caramel color. It's not a bad color, but it's nicer to keep it whiter if you can.

Melt the coconut oil. Add the coconut oil to the other oils in a deep pot.

Separately (and after getting the oils together) slowly add the lye to the frozen goat milk. Stir vigorously until the lye is completely disolved.

The lye mixture and the oil mixture should both be close to the same temperature, and that temperature should probably be about 80*. I have quit measuring the temperature since what you're really trying to avoid is temperatures being too hot. When I figured out that by adding the lye to ice cubes, the temperature never even got all the way up to 80*. I'm sure you know that lye added to a liquid generates a lot of heat.

Add the lye mixture to the oil, stirring while pouring. Stir, stir, stir. ideally you have a stick blender to do this. DO NOT use a regular hand mixer. The stick blender will throw enough lye-heated solution at you as it is. you don't need a mixer that will get really wild. Stir, stir stir, until the solution 'traces'. Tracing means that when you pull the spoon (stick blender, spatula, whatever) out and wave it across the top of the solution, it leaves a visible trace across the top of the solution. (Which is not really a solution at this time. It's starting to get thick.)

Now comes the fun part. Pour the soap into your mold. (You DO have a mold ready for this, don't you?) By now I have read so many different things to do at this point that I suggest you join one of the previously named groups and read some of the ideas. I had been putting the soap in the freezer to set up. This keeps it cool while it starts to saponify and so keeps the soap a bit whiter. This last time, though, I put the soap (in a lined, metal mold) in an oven preheated to warm. This lets it saponify faster and it set up quicker. The first time I made soap, I followed the instructions I had at the time which were to leave it out on the counter, but cover it to keep it warm during the saponification process.

As you can see, there's a lot of different ways to do it, and this is just the cold process soap making. When you get really bold, you could try the hot process. I do suggest that you read everything you can get your hands on before you try it, and check out some of the soap making groups. They are very helpful.

The angoras are new to me, so I haven't done anything with any angora fleeces yet. I have done a bit with sheep's wool. I put a big pot of water on the wood cook stove today and washed a bunch of wool from one of the two sheep I have. I sheared them a couple days ago. I still don't know how to spin well myself, but I do know how to card the wool. (A drum carder makes it pretty easy.) And I know how to make a roving. I recently discovered that you can knit or crochet roving without spinning it, so I have started crocheting a couple of Large wool slippers that I plan to felt when I get done with them. It's really cool to be able to adjust the thickness of your material as you crochet with it.

I only have 1 buck, and he is a yearling so he's still pretty small. He managed to do the job for me this past year, though and I plan to make him work again this year. After that I may change bucks. From what I understand, it's normal to use a buck for 2 years then trade him in for another. This being so you can keep from inbreeding too much. My herd is not big enough for more than 1 full buck. I've already talked to another guy who might want my buck when I'm done with him, and I've been talking to someone else about getting a saanen buck.

I am in SW Oregon.

[Cindy Henson]

Thanks for the soap recipe, Janet. I will have to try it out.

[amy waymon]

I was reading the goat milk recipe, and we have plenty of cream from our Jersey cow......do you think one can substitute Jersey cream for gaots milk?

[Cindy Henson]

I think it would work fine, Amy. Jersey milk is 4.5% butterfat compared to goat's milk at 5%.

Good luck!
CindyH

[Bri]

I'm thinking about goats. Do you know some good resources that I can learn more about them? How many would we need for dairy requirements for a family of 3, and do they have to be bred frequently in order to produce milk? I'm ashamed that I know so little . . .

[Edson]

Yes, they do have to be bred. The gestation period is about 5 1/2 months. We would breed ours once a year, and milk them for 9 or 10 months, drying them off a couple months before the kids were due. We usually tried to have the kids born in early spring, so that we were not milking over winter.

Our goats (Nubians, a dairy breed) would each give 2 to 4 quarts per day. We could have easily gotten by with just one goat, except that as herd animals, they don't like being solitary. The milk was basically indistinguishable from store bought milk, and had no "goaty" off-flavors.

They're pretty easy to keep, though the boys can be really aggressive and very stinky. If you can get borrow one for breeding instead of owning it, that's the way to go.

If we get goats again, I'd be tempted to go with Nigerian Dwarfs, so we could have multiple goats but not end up with too much milk.

I don't remember any more which books we relied on most, but I think we read them all. :)

[Cindy Henson]

Like Edson's family, we breed in the late fall for spring babies. Then we milk until November or December, when it gets really cold here and dry them off.

I like Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats for a good book and http://www.fiascofarm.com/ for a good site.

You can always turn the extra milk into cheese. It can be kept in the freezer and used year round. Or you can sell it. I get requests for milk quite often.

When choosing your goats be sure to get bottle raised does so that they are used to being handled. My goats are love sponges and expect to be petted every day.

If you don't want to keep a buck you can always use artificial insemination. I keep bucks and they are smelly when in rut, about July - November.

Goats are really fun to raise. They are smart and sweet if raised gently. I love to just sit with them in the sun and listen to them hum. Good luck!

CindyH